2016 Season so far

I am back. I have been watching the Tigers regularly this year and have a thing or two to say. Coaching: We'll start with the goat of many seasons in my opinion: the coach. Kim Ki Tae, a Gwangjuian, is a former player. He played for the Wyverns, Lions and one of my favourite defunct teams, the Sang Bang Ool Raiders. To this day I don't know why they didn't call that team the Sox. (Sang Bang Ool is a clothing company. They make socks!). At any rate, he is starting the season off well. He's not bunting in the annoying Jo Bunt Hyun style of his predecessor. He has even called a few hit and runs! I LOVE that! He's got a great hitting ball club with a long list of players who can knock it over the wall. This is NOT a team to manufacture runs with and he seems to recognize that. For now, I won't slag him. For now... Pitching: Kia has a couple of the best Korean pitchers ever on their club! They are 28 and 29 respectively so as pitchers go, they should be in their prime. Yang Hyun Jong and Yoon Suk Min both could get 10-15 wins with a little bit of hitting support and faith from the coach. Yang got 15 wins last year and 16 the year before that, but this year has gotten off to a rocky start. He's pitched 33 2/3 innings and has two losses and two no decisions to show for it. He's just not fooling batters the way he was the last two years. His strikeout to walk ratio is most telling. Normally over 2, it's only 1.6 this year. It's not bad, 1.6, it's just not up to Yang's standards. He's giving up about a hit per inning and a run every two innings. Again, not terrible but he's not winning.

Yoon Suk Min has been my favourite pitcher for a long time and if you ask me he's had the worst luck of any pitcher. He has looked solid. He's got one win and two losses. In one of his losses he went the entire game giving up only 2 runs and scattering 9 hits. Not bad. Good enough for the win IF you can get some support from your team. Yoon just never seems to get that. Having said that, Kia GOT 11 hits in the game but managed only one run. That's what seems to happen to Yoon more than anyone! I watched the game and recall the Tigers having base runners on third at least two times with nobody out and both of those times wasted them. Once was a bonehead base running mistake by #33, their shortstop, a guy who made FIVE errors in Yoon's other loss including bungling a tailor-made double play ball that would have ended the inning. Instead 5 runs scored. There's no way of knowing, but Kia ended up scoring 6 runs in that game and losing 9-6. Would they have lost if not for the botched double play? This is the constant baseball life of Yoon. At any rate, Yoon's 3.5 strikeouts per walk is sparkling. His one hit per inning and one run per three innings mean he is pitching better than Yang or anyone on the club. But for some reason he has not made an appearance to my knowledge since April 17's 2-1 loss. Injured? Is he going to be wasted as the save guy again? I guess we'll see...

Zeke Spruill, a former Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher, looks okay. Just okay. He isn't pitching against the best pitchers on the other team so he should do okay. But so far, NOT so good. He's got two wins but also has 3 losses. Good 2.7 strikeout to walk ratio and the same one hit per inning as the other two. But he's giving up a run for every two innings as well. That's not so great. Hector Noesi, another former major leaguer, is doing quite well if you ask me. He's got 2 wins and only one loss. In his 31 innings he has usually been solid. Nothing spectacular though. A strikeout to walk ratio of 2.2 and an earned run every 1.9 innings are not great but he's getting the job done. On a lot of clubs they have the opposite of a Yoon Suk Min. Guys who have lousy numbers, but seem to win. They get all the run support the other pitchers crave. That is Han Ki Joo so far this season. I have serious doubts about whether that will hold up. Years ago he was a young fireballer who regularly threw over 150 km/h and had a bright future. He never really worked out for the Tigers. Now he's a blast from the past who has had the velocity sapping Tommy John surgery and, much like Seo Jae Eung, will have to make the transition from power pitcher to location pitcher. He is the only starter on the staff who has more walks than strikeouts. That's a less than 1 ratio compared to Yoon's 3.5. In fact his ratio is actually 0.66. Terrible! And that's not including the batters he's hit with pitches. But he has 3 wins and no losses. He even has a save in there! I have a feeling that his job was the save man to start the season and he has taken Yoon's place in the starting rotation. This is probably not a good idea. Unless Yoon is injured or he has requested this, I'm not a fan. But I sure hope Han keeps winning! Key Players: Brett Pill had a .309 average and 101 RBI's for the Tigers last year. He's their best hitter. VERY dependable on 1st base too. In the majors he had gaudy fielding percentage numbers, sometimes perfect 100%! Nothing has changed. He's Mr. Baseball for Kia fans. He has started off well this year too. .333 avg. 3 homers, 11 RBI's. He's even thrown in a couple of stolen bases. He's the man!

Lee Bum Ho is the 34-year-old captain of the Tigers. Power hitting Lee Bum Ho! He had 28 homers last year compared to Pill's 22, but only 79 RBI's. His .270 average is very high for a power hitter and he has started the 2016 EN FUEGO! 4 homers, 13 RBI's and a .297 average is comparable to Pill! Hope he keeps it up!

Kim Ju Chan had 18 homers, 62 RBI's and a .327 average last season. He has 16 RBI's already this season and hit for the cycle in one game. He's 35 but legs out a triple like a 25 year old. He's another veteran who is key on this team.

Kim Weon Seop is 37. He has lost a step but that just makes him fast instead of super fast. He has never been a homerun or RBI guy, but his solid .270 average and ability to get to balls and catch them in the field, make him valuable. I shouldn't say this because if anybody reads it, his secret will be out, but he NEVER swings at the first pitch. He has a good veteran understanding of making the pitcher work. This helps the whole squad. NObody sees more pitches than Weon Seop! And he is a good clutch hitter. He's off to a slow start this year but he'll end the year around .270 as always.

Guys to watch: Baek Yong Hwan is a young catcher with an explosive bat. He has no nerves! He doesn't get rattled under pressure. He got 10 homers and 30 RBI's in limited playing time last year. I think he'll get more plate appearances this year. Kim Joo Hyung is the interim shortstop until Kim Sun Bin finishes his military training. He has everyone missing Sun Bin already. He's the guy who had a 5 error game already. BUT, his bat is awfully good. The question is, which leads to more runs, his hitting or his really, really bad base running and infielding? He's on a .273 clip right now with 4 homers and 10 walks. He's on base a lot and really contributes offensively. But not enough. The good news is base running and fielding can be coached and improved more easily than hitting. Somebody's gotta get on that!!! Na Ji Weon??? YES! He's hitting again! .317! And in very limited action he's got 10 walks with that. And he WILL get hit by many pitches! That's his thing! That makes for a RIDICULOUS .451 on base percentage! He's contributing!

I'm gonna add one more. For a few seasons I have noticed the sweet swing of Kim Da Won. He's probably a .300 hitter if he gets regular playing time. He is a fielder and there isn't a lot of room on the Tigers for him, but I think they should play him more. At this time, the Tigers are underperforming in my opinion. They have a good team with the only weakness being at shortstop. That's a big weakness, but this year the Tigers bullpen has been much better than usual. So we don't have THAT frustration as yet. I hope I don't jinx anything by saying that. Coaching has been good and batting has been exceptional. Starters have just been snake-bitten. If they could have spread their hitting around instead of getting it all in a couple of games, they could be in third place right now. I think this team will be one to watch this season. And I'm going to enjoy doing just that.